Navy Medical Journals

Ancestry.co.uk has put another dataset online, this time it is Royal Navy Medical Journals & Surgeon Superintendents Journals. So if you have ancestors with salt water in their veins this might be just the sort of records that could help in your research.

Ancestry has this to say about the material on offer……

A variety of people travelled the seas in the 19th century, from experienced sailors to convicts. Our latest two record collections shed light on the experiences of all these groups after they left shore. Royal Navy Medical Journals, 1817-1857, and Surgeon Superintendents’ Journals of Convict Ships, 1858–1867, are both sets of diaries kept by ships’ medical officers. They reveal everything from serious diseases to grog-related accidents — along with accounts of how each was treated at the time. You can search for patients by name, but even if your relatives weren’t among the sick, the records provide a rare insight into life at sea.

About Me

History, particularly Family History is my passion. I have worked in libraries & archives, I teach family history, conduct workshops and give genealogy presentations. It seemed a shame to have all this knowledge & experience and not share it with others, so this website was born.